1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display apparatus and a remote controller.
2. Description of the Related Art
Display apparatuses such as television receivers are widely used. A display apparatus receives an analog/digital broadcast, or receives content from an external terminal and displays images based on the received content (input content). As digitalization of broadcasts proceeds, the number of channels that can be received by a display apparatus enormously increases. There are various external input apparatuses for receiving input content such as recorders including video recorders, hard disk recorders, and DVD recorders, DVD players, home video game machines, and digital cameras.
Display apparatuses are generally provided with a remote controller for performing communication using infrared light. A user (viewer) switches channels or selects one of pieces of input content by pressing one of buttons formed on the remote controller. For example, if a user presses one of twelve channel selection buttons corresponding to analog terrestrial broadcast stations, a broadcast viewable on a selected channel is displayed on a screen of a display apparatus instead of a broadcast viewable on a current channel. There are display apparatuses for multichannel digital broadcasting in which an EPG (Electronic Program Guide) is displayed using a GUI on a screen. In the case of such display apparatuses, a user selects a desired one of channels included in an EPG with a remote controller.
A viewer can select a desired piece of content from among pieces of content of an enormous number of channels or various input sources by performing channel surfing with a remote controller. Here, channel surfing means that a viewer changes channels quickly with a remote controller while watching, for example, television on a display apparatus.
On the other hand, there are display apparatuses having a double-screen display function of simultaneously displaying a main screen and a subscreen based on two different image signals that are received by a plurality of tuners or input from a plurality of external input apparatuses. Furthermore, there are display apparatuses having a picture-in-picture function of displaying one picture as a main screen in the entire screen area and the other picture as a subscreen in a part of the screen area of the main screen.
In a display apparatus having the double-screen display function or the picture-in-picture function, there is a relationship of master and servant between two screens. One of the two screens can be operated by a viewer and is allowed to output sound. In contrast, the other one of the two screens cannot be directly operated by the viewer and is not allowed to output sound. An operation button such as a screen switching button is prepared on a remote controller so as to allow a viewer to change an operable screen functioning as a master between the two screens.
In such a display apparatus having the double-screen display function or the picture-in-picture function, a viewer can use one of two screens for viewing and the other one for channel surfing.
In such a display apparatus having the double-screen display function or the picture-in-picture function, the display sizes and display positions of the two screens are generally fixed in advance. On the other hand, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 08-111828 discloses a technique for easily changing a display setting.
In the case of the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 08-111828, a plurality of different double-screen display patterns are prepared in advance. The switching among these display patterns can be easily performed using a single input key.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-320786 discloses a technique for freely setting a display setting to a user's desired level by continuously changing a display attribute with a directional key of a remote controller.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-157684 discloses a technique for achieving the easy operation of a remote controller by causing each of a search button, a playback button, and a stop button of a remote controller to have many functions.
However, in the case of the above-described techniques in the related art, a viewer cannot perform channel surfing smoothly while continuing viewing.
As described previously, in a display apparatus in the related art, if a channel selection button of a remote controller is pressed, viewing of a current channel is interrupted so as to change a channel. In particular, in a display apparatus supporting an enormous number of channels in which it is required to perform a plurality of button pressing operations at the time of selecting a channel, if another channel is being checked while a current channel is being viewed, a good scene of the current channel may be missed. For example, it is required to perform a plurality of button pressing operations at the time of selecting a channel from an EPG or switching between an analog broadcasting channel and a digital broadcasting channel.
In a display apparatus capable of simultaneously displaying two screens, viewing of a current channel is not interrupted. However, since the display sizes and display positions of two screens are fixed, a viewer cannot change the display settings of the two screens in accordance with the level of importance of each channel. For example, the level of importance is the degree of interest in the program of each channel, the degree of interest in one channel relative to the other channel, or a viewing environment in which there is a single viewer or a group of viewers.
For example, if a double-screen display mode is set so as to check another channel while a movie or a sport program is being viewed in a full-screen display mode, a screen on which the movie or the sport program is displayed is reduced in size. This reduces realism. Accordingly, it is required to allow the display settings of two screens, for example, the display sizes and display positions of two screens, to be easily changed. In the above-described techniques in the related art, it is required to perform a button pressing operation a plurality of times separately from a channel selection operation so as to change a display setting.